BC Highway Patrol wrapped up their Summer Impaired Driver Campaign at the end of last month.
BC Highway Patrol Media Relations Officer Corporal Michael McLaughlin said the numbers were down which is encouraging in Northern BC that includes most communities north of 100 Mile House.
“But we have to sound a note of caution because there is that shorter campaign June 15 to July 31 and a lot of Highway Patrol resources were working on other projects.”
During that time period 58 tickets were issued for impaired driving, the second highest in the Province down from 146 in 2025.
“When you compare the numbers across BC Northern BC is still out of proportion,” Too many people at too high a proportion are driving while impaired. So this is a serious concern that we would like to address.”
The number of drug prohibitions saw a decrease from 13 in 2025 to 3 this year.
“We have to be careful reading too much into that. It is encouraging to see the numbers go down but due to redeploying of some of our Drug Recognition experts and because the campaign was shorter, we don’t want to be complacent, there are still too many people who are using drugs and getting behind the wheel.”
Superintendent Lori Orstad with BC Highway Patrol echoed that analysis.
“Our officers did notice improvements in some of our usual check stops in 2026 but we are intercepting far too many people who choose to drive while impaired.”
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